EI7KYST0MUS ORIENTALIS. 



(THE INDIAN BROAD-BILLED ROLLER.) 



Coracias orientalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 159 (1766). 



Eurystomus orientalis, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 99 (1826) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



no. 220, p. 51 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 171; Horsf. 



& Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. no. 148, p. 121 (1854); Jerclon, B. of Ind. i. p. 219 



(1862) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 423 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 164 ; Morgan, 



ibid. p. 531 ; Bourdillon, ibid. 1876, p. 382. 

 Eurystomus cyanicollis, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxix. p. 425 (1816). 

 The Oriental Roller (Horsfield) ; Tiong Batu, Sumatra (Raffles) ; Tihong Lampay, Malay. 



Adult male and female. Length (from skin) 1T0 to 12-0 inches ; wing 7 - 2 to 7"5 ; tail 3 - 7 to 3 - 9 ; tarsus 0-75 ; middle 

 toe OS5, claw (straight) 0-35 ; bill to gape 1-5. 



The above are from 3 Ceylonese examples. A Nepaul bird in the British Museum measures, wing 7'4 inches ; another 

 from Labuan, wing 7'3 inches. 



Iris hazel-brown : bill deep orange-red, the tip of the upper mandible red ; orbital skin red ; tarsi and feet orange- 

 red ; feet duskier than the tarsus. 



Head, face, and chin brown, darker in some adults than in others, and slightly suffused with greenish on the nape, 

 which passes into the opaque leaf -green of the hind neck, back, least wing-coverts, tertials, and rump ; median and 

 greater wing-coverts greenish blue, blending into the duller hue of the lesser coverts ; primary-coverts, primaries, 

 and secondaries black, washed on the outer webs and on the inner just inside the shaft with ultramarine ; a broad 

 band of pallid cerulean blue extending from the inner web of the 1st primary to the outer web of the 7th, and 

 tinging the surrounding ultramarine at the point of contact ; tail black, the feathers washed with ultramarine at 

 the edges, and the reverse 'part beneath, except near the tip, blue; centre of the throat cerulean blue, blending 

 into the obscure greenish blue of the fore neck and under surface ; the centre of the breast and abdomen verditer- 

 blue ; under wing-coverts concolorous with the breast. 



The above description is from Ceylonese examples. One from Nepal has the head and hind neck darker, and the blue 

 colour of the breast not so bright ; another is very similar to the Ceylonese birds, but has the back and wings more 

 sombre, the wing-bar smaller (its hue spreading down the outer edges of the quills in the form of an edging), and 

 the under surface much greener. 



Young. Mr. Hume writes of the immature bird that the bill, which is much smaller than in the adult, is almost black, 

 with the gonys pale orange, which gradually deepens in colour with the age of the bird and spreads over the 

 whole mandible, the upper mandible becoming reddish black, after which the orange hue spreads from the gape 

 over the whole upper mandible except the tip. 



An example which I have examined from the Andamans is paler on the head and neck than an adult ; the feathers of 

 the upper surface are slightly pale-edged ; chin and along the base of the under mandible brown ; a portion of 

 the throat tinged with hyacinth-blue, the rest greenish blue, and the feathers pale-tipped, with a faint tinge of the 

 hyacinth hue on the centres of many. The under parts are paler than in the adult, and the feathers of the chest 

 tipped with a light colour. 



Obs. This is a variable species in colour, which character is no doubt due to the age of respective individuals : one 

 example from Labuan corresponds with Ceylonese and Indian ones ; it is slightly more nigrescent on the hind 

 neck and interscapulars, and the blue of the throat is more extensive. Another from the island of Negros and 

 one from Java are also not to be separated. 



Eurystomus pacificus, of which I have examined specimens in the national collection from Ceram and the Sula Islands, 

 is closely allied to E. orientalis. The wings of three specimens measure 7"8, 7'8, and 7"5 inches respectively. The 

 upper surface is greener, the under parts paler, and the throat less coloured with blue than in E. orientalis ; 

 the basal outer margins of the tail-feathers are tinged with greenish blue. A Sula-Island individual, however, has 



